Dominic Mckenzie

On Sunday I attended a workshop run by Dominic McKenzie which was held at House of Illustration. Dominic works as an editorial illustrator with the focus of the workshop being on the topic of illustrating an idea. This was actually what kickstarted my idea for my visit to London. Learning how others approach work, especially as this was illustration based was key to my interest in the workshop. Due to Dominic working in editorial I knew that this workshop would probably look at things in a slightly different manner as to other workshops I have previously attended elsewhere. Also gaining a better understanding of what House of Illustration actually was, where it was based etc were important for me to find out about. Not only for this project but for future reference and use.
The first task Dominic set the group was to try to draw and image that explained who you are as a person. I felt that I am a person when confronted with a question that interests me will dig until they find the answer, although this may reveal more questions. This illustration was then passed to the person next to you for them to try and decide what it said about your personality. Mine was not clearly understood but showed me just because something is clear to me it may not be for others and visa versa. The next task was looking a the most basic of symbols i.e. male/female signs for toilets. We were then to try and design a sign for the House of Illustration in as simple a fashion as possible. This task actually proved very difficult as I had to ask how can illustration be signified? Both tasks were done in a short space of time and are shown below.

Our next task was titled words as image, which we were given six words. The words themselves were to be illustrated in whatever fashion came to mind. This again was difficult to think of lots of ways to illustrate a word in a short time. The exercise might prove useful in future projects though if I am having difficulties trying to work out how to illustrate what I am trying to say. Illustrating the actual words may inspire the illustrations themselves or at least strengthen them. The words chosen are shown below and was interesting to see what others had also done.

The  next task was to create a metaphor portrait, we were shown four images of well known people and asked to try and portrait them using things they were associated with. I chose Andy Warhol who instantly made me think of repetition. I then tried to think of ideas for David Beckham but actually found him far more difficult to portrait. We were to create a final image then swap with the person next to you. We then discussed their work, something you liked and also where it could be improved. This exercise proved useful although I quickly realised that I had mixed up Warhol's Campbell's soup with beans for some reason. When my work was discussed Dominic stated that he would have taken the can away and just had the repeating images of Warhol alone. This is what I had done as my first idea so I was aware that Dominic had seen this sketch and obviously felt it was much stronger in it's portrait of Andy Warhol.

The penultimate task was to work with the person next to me and decipher an article written for Variety Magazine. The article was about the influence of Billionaires on Hollywood and is shown below. Working with someone trying to illustrate this article was very difficult as most of the time seemed to be in discussion about the article itself. There were several ideas thrown around some of which are shown below.

The final task of the day was to read another article written for the Guardian on doping in athletics then illustrate what we thought would be appropriate. This task was to be done alone and then we would pick what we thought was the strongest image and discuss at the end. From the images shown below I had picked the tidal wave chasing the athletes down the track. Although after everyone had discussed there choices Dominic stated that if he were to illustrate this article he would have someone jumping a hurdle as this was the main topic within the article. Would athletics be able to get over the latest doping allegations which are reported to be widespread, who could lead them out of this situation? The hurdle seemed a perfect metaphor, again I am aware that Dominic had seen the image I had done of the athlete jumping the hurdle made from a needle. In other words he was making me aware that I had done the correct image but had made a bad choice when picking the strongest, strangely the partner from the previous task had said that was her immediate favourite. 

During the workshop Dominic had decide to show everyone my sketchbook as he was trying to show the importance of just getting rough ideas down quickly. The fact he gave subtle advice on my choices etc during the class were valuable appraisals, along with a short speech at the end where he thought some people had went from 0-60 in the short session we had. I personally felt as though I was one of these people as I could see a definite progression in my understanding of what I was trying to achieve through the images produced. They way Dominic also said well done at the end to me personally felt like a pat on the back. This workshop took place directly after seeing the Ai WeiWei exhibition, it took me from trying to think in a very highly conceptional manner to a slightly more grounded version. I understand that creating something that requires thought or is thought provoking can be very interesting for me and my audience. However there is no point in me making works that cannot be understood without explanation which was sometimes the case at the exhibition. This is probably even more prevalent within the medium of picture books, I don't want something neither the child or adult are able to understand as this will lose their interest in the story no matter how interesting I can make the images.